The Bibi Break-Up Begins, As Does The IC Purge...

 

Badlands Brief The Bibi Break-Up Begins, As Does The IC Purge... GhostofBasedPatrickHenry Jun 8   READ IN APP   The Badlands Brief is your daily drop of Badlands’ takes on the narratives dominating the info war. Read on, and join the conversation in the comments section. Netanyahu Defies Trump; Strikes Iran to Restart War President Donald Trump urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not to retaliate against Iran following an Iranian missile attack, according to Axios, which cited a senior U.S. official and an Israeli source. Trump separately told the Financial Times that Netanyahu would have “no choice” but to accept any agreement the United States negotiates with Iran and said he “calls the shots” in the talks. The diplomatic pressure came as regional tensions escalated. Iran launched 11 ballistic missiles toward Israel on June 8, according to Israeli officials cited by Axios, marking the first direct Iranian attack since an April 8 ceasefire. In response, the Israeli Air Force carried out strikes against military targets in central and western Iran, according to the Israel Defense Forces. Israeli Ambassador Yechiel Leiter said the operation focused on missile launch sites and related infrastructure and did not target energy facilities. Explosions were reported in multiple Iranian cities. A U.S. defense official told Axios that American forces did not participate in the Israeli strikes. Iran has warned that further Israeli attacks could prompt additional responses, raising concerns about broader regional escalation. GhostofBasedPatrickHenry: And here we have yet another phone call between President Trump and Israeli journalist Barak Ravid. These are now happening every few weeks. There isn’t another journalist with that level of access to President Trump; nor is there another journalist to whom Trump has expressed anti-Netanyahu sentiments. Pattern recognition. Here’s what Ravid posted following his phone call with the President. President Trump then did a phone interview with the Financial Times of London. When asked whether he thought Netanyahu would accept the deal Trump was negotiating with Iran, Trump replied: “He won’t have any choice. I call the shots. I call all the shots. He [Netanyahu] doesn’t call the shots.” More from the Financial Times article: The president separately told Fox News that he would instruct Netanyahu to refrain from taking retaliatory action against Iran — a position at odds with statements from the Israeli military. Trump said that Iran’s strikes had not changed his desire to conclude US-Iran negotiations. “It’s not going to have any impact on the deal,” he told the FT. “We’ll see how it ends up. But they [the missile strikes on Israel] were attacks that did not kick at all. It’s one of those things that’s been going for 3,000 years, or 47 years, depending on how you count.” So Trump just straight up said that Iran attacking Israel would not deter his pursuit of peace. That it would not deter his pursuit of making a deal with Iran. Perhaps that is why Netanyahu pursued war in defiance of President Trump. Exactly one month ago, on May 9th, Netanyahu spoke at the Yad Vashem—the World Holocaust Remembrance Center—in Jerusalem. He said, “If Israel is forced to stand alone - Israel will stand alone.” That is exactly what President Trump has baited Netanyahu into doing, using Game Theory. Because it is election season, the knives are out for Bibi. All of his political opponents are now calling him weak for capitulating to Trump, and failing to finish the job with Hezbollah and Iran. Even Israeli mouthpieces are seeing the writing on the wall. They finally understand the trap that I saw being set years ago. The impetus for Iran’s attack on Israel was retaliation to Israel’s strike on Beirut (the capital of Lebanon). While many speculated that the US played a hand in this operation, it was this attack that provoked President Trump into chewing out Netanyahu last week. Barak Ravid reported yesterday that two separate sources at the White House confirmed that the US played no part, and did not give the blessing to do it. Anshel Pfeffer from The Economist summarized the situation: These are the circumstances that will drive Israel deeper into war, as Netanyahu clings to power, and President Trump negotiates peace with Iran and exits the stage. This is everything that we have been anticipating ever since we started studying Israeli domestic politics in the News Brief over two years ago. And now we are watching it unfold. Accelerate.